Gone is the Past, Now is the Future
by thoughtsdropin
Summary: Jack finds someone he was looking for off the island. JACKET.


Jack walked up to the foreboding, large, brown door to the event theatre. He had been asked to go to some sort of party in honour of the survivors of Oceanic 815, and had only accepted reluctantly after excessive pestering.

He pushed open the door to loud music and a man in a black suit waiting to take his coat. He accepted as politely as possible and made his way to the party. There were many familiar faces present: Hurley, Sayid, Sun, Ben, Kate and Aaron. Normally he would have walked directly to Kate, but he didn't feel up for chatting this evening, and he was pretty sure that Kate was not in the mood to talk to him. Instead, he made his way to the bar. Nothing like a good drink to fill the spot of company, Jack thought to himself.

"Tequila and tonic," he ordered at the bar. It was a favourite of a friend of his, but he didn't mind it himself. He had almost finished the glass when he heard an all-too-familiar southern voice.

"Well look who it is," came Sawyer's voice from somewhere close by. "You happy now, Blondie?"

Jack turned quickly to find Sawyer standing a few feet from him, with Juliet standing in his shadow, awestruck.

"I'll leave you two alone," Sawyer said, and he walked away, smirking.

Seeing that Juliet wasn't going to be the one to make the first move, Jack approached her cautiously. "Juliet... What are you-- How?" It was all he could manage to say.

"Penny and Desmond came back for us," Juliet said quietly, her eyes on the floor.

"How are you?" Jack asked tenderly. She looked so beautiful, with her hair up in a bun, wearing a sky blue dress that almost matched her eyes. He reached forward to stroke her arm, but Juliet abruptly moved out of his reach and ran out of the door.

Jack didn't know what to do. "Juliet!" He called, and on instinct he ran after her.

He ran out onto a cloudy alleyway, the heels of Juliet's shoes clicking in the distance.

"Juliet!" Jack called, and he ran in the direction of the clicking. "Juliet!"

He turned a corner and saw he running as fast as she could in heels towards a major intersection where she could with no doubt find a taxi.

He ran as fast as he could and eventually grabbed her wrist, holding her there and turning her towards him to find that tears were quickly running down her cheeks. She struggled to free herself from his grasp, but eventually gave up and stood on the spot defeated, her gaze fixed on the road.

"Juliet," Jack said softly, not knowing what to say to comfort her. Was she in shock? Mad at him? Did she not want to even be friends with him? He had been trying to get back to her, to convince the others to go back. He had regretted leaving her on the island in the first place; it had been a mistake.

"Just don't try Jack," Juliet said, her words not full of scorn, but of pain.

"Don't try what?"

"To fix what you've done," Juliet said, and she sobbed. "You can't always fix everything... Just leave it be."

Those final words echoed in Jack's head like a nightmare. First Kate, now Juliet. But the difference was that as Juliet tried to pull away again, Jack knew he couldn't lose Juliet like he did Kate. This time, there was fixing to be done.

"No, I can't," Jack began, and Juliet looked up in surprise, and momentarily stopped her escape attempt. "I can't always fix everything, but I can fix this. Run away with me. We never have to talk or think about the island, or the people we left in that party again. No Ben, no Kate, just us. Us, and a world full of opportunity in front of us." Juliet looked in his eyes for the first time. "Please," Jack pleaded.

Juliet collapsed on his chest, and Jack held her tightly in his arms, kissing the top of her head. They both knew it was meant to be. Sarah, Edmund, Achara, Goodwin, Kate, Ben: they were the past. Gone was the time when they had to worry about being eaten by the smoke monster, or getting off the island. Now all they had to worry about was where they were going to go first, about their future. Together.


End file.
